


A Child's Wish

by multifandommess



Category: Dame x Prince Anime Caravan (Anime)
Genre: Canon divergence from episode 8, Child!Mare, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Minor references to the mobile game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 01:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17416061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifandommess/pseuds/multifandommess
Summary: The only thing Mare ever wanted was to be loved. Is it really so selfish of him to want to keep the one person who cares about him all to himself?





	A Child's Wish

**Author's Note:**

> Written back when the anime was airing, right after watching episode 8 because little Mare melted my heart and I needed more of him

****“I’m sleepy….”

Ani blinked, startled as Mare suddenly walked over to her and sat down on her lap--and while he didn’t weigh much as a child, he seemed to go out of his way to take up as much room on her lap as possible as he sat sideways across her legs and curled up against her chest.

(She was completely oblivious to Teo’s blushing and sputtering in the background, as well as to Vino’s disappointed pout as Mare left him no room to sit and Mare’s smug smile hidden behind his Kyuaran puppet.)

“Here… this is one of Kyuaran’s picture books...,” Mare said, holding up a book to the princess. “I’ll let you… read it to me.”

“Princess, you don’t have to--”

Ani gave Teo a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

Mare smiled as Ani picked him up and carried him to the bedroom, sticking his tongue out at Vino and Teo from over Ani’s shoulder and relishing in their frustrated expressions even after Ani entered the bedroom and set him down on the bed.

“There you go… nice and comfy?” Ani asked after tucking the shrunken prince in, smiling as Mare nodded with his Kyuaran puppet hugged close to his chest.

“Book,” Mare reminded her, holding out the book again.

Ani took the book with an amused expression and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Okay, okay… now let’s see here….”

She opened the book to the first page, clearing her throat for dramatic effect before beginning to read.

“Once upon a time, in the faraway land of Orchid, there lived a beautiful magical princess named Kyuaran….”

* * *

_It’s the cursed prince…._

_If you get too close, you might get cursed too!_

_Poor Prince Ruze, losing his parents because of that cursed boy._

_This country doesn’t need a prince that was rejected by Saint Philia._

_Prince Ruze is the only prince this country needs._

_No one could ever love a cursed prince._

_Why is he even still alive?_

_He should just--_

* * *

Mare jerked awake with a soft cry, his breaths coming in short pants and his body trembling. He held Kyuaran tightly in his arms as he tried to ground himself.

_It’s okay… it’s okay if I’m a cursed prince… because someone loves me anyway. Kyuaran loves me, and…._

His thoughts traveled to the princess of Inaco, his heart dropping as the tail end of his nightmare flashed back into his mind: Ani staring at him with cold eyes, an expression of disgust on her face as he desperately reached out to her, having to watch as she turned and moved further and further away while ignoring his pleas for her not to go....

Shaken, Mare hastily slipped out of bed, making sure not to disturb the other de-aged boy that had been put to bed next to him--not because he was worried about disturbing Vino’s rest, but rather because he really didn’t have the patience to deal with him trying to get in between him and Ani right now.

Mare wandered out of the room, feeling all the more on-edge by how much bigger everything was compared to him (and more importantly, by all the bad memories rapidly returning to the forefront of his mind that were associated with this vantage point).

As if sent to him by Saint Philia themselves, Ani walked out of one of the nearby rooms and spotted him almost immediately, and he wasted no time in rushing over to her and silently clinging to one of her legs.

“P… Prince Mare? What…. Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Ani looked down at the shrunken prince in confusion, her expression quickly melting into concern as she saw and felt him trembling. “Did you have a bad dream?”

Mare nodded, relief flooding through him as she lifted him up and sat down with him against her chest.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ani asked as she looked down at Mare, her expression still soft with concern, and Mare quickly hid his face against her chest as he felt himself beginning to tear up.

The room was silent save for the crackling of the fireplace and the crickets chirping outside the window, and just when Ani was going to check if Mare fell back asleep, she heard his muffled voice.

“... cursed….”

“Hm?” Ani idly moved a hand to play with Mare’s hair, unwittingly prompting a hitched breath from the shrunken prince as the feeling caused the tears that he’d fought to hold back to begin rolling down his cheeks.

“I’m… cursed….” Mare sniffled and hiccuped softly, one trembling hand tightly holding his Kyuaran puppet while the other clung onto Ani’s shirt. “Dreamt about… all the things people say….”

“Oh… prince Mare….” Ani’s heart clenched in sympathy, and she hugged him closer. “I don’t know what people said about you, but you aren’t cursed.”

Mare looked up at Ani, taking in her compassionate expression, and felt his eyes filling with fresh tears as he quietly asked, “Everyone hates me…. Why don’t you?”

Ani frowned. “Everyone doesn’t hate you… what about prince Ruze?”

Mare shook his head, his expression silently begging her not to talk about his brother. He didn’t have the mental or emotional capacity at the moment to properly explain just how strained his relationship with Ruze was after years of living in his shadow, years of being treated as the least favored of the two princes, years of trying and failing to measure up to his brother only to eventually give up and shut out the entire world because that was so much easier than having to hear day in and day out how he never should have been born--

Apparently Ani could read his expression well enough, because she dropped the subject and instead said with a smile, “I have no reason to hate you. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“... You’re Kyuaran’s _mi amo_ … so you’re my _mi amo_ too…,” Mare agreed quietly. “But… no one likes me.”

“That’s just because they haven’t taken the time to get to know you,” Ani responded, her expression softening as Mare looked up at her in surprise. “Sure, you’re a little bit… _awkward_ at times, but I know you’re a good person. Being called ‘cursed’ is a bit much, and maybe I don’t know why people say such mean things about you, but whatever their reasons are I don’t agree with them.”

Mare’s bottom lip quivered as a fresh wave of tears began pooling in his eyes and streaming down his cheeks. “... Please don’t leave, _mi amo_ ….”

“Leave? What do you mean?”

Mare sniffled and hiccuped as he buried his face against Ani’s chest again. “The dream… wasn’t just memories…. You were there, and you… agreed with them, and… then you left me….” He sobbed softly. “... _Mi amo_ is good… and warm, and kind…. I don’t deserve… to stay with you… but I don’t want you… to leave me….”

Ani ran her fingers through Mare’s hair soothingly, choosing her words carefully as she spoke. “Prince Mare, you know that I have to go back home soon, and so do you, so I can’t promise that I’ll never leave your side… but I _can_ promise that I’ll always be your _mi amo_ , and that I’ll always care about you. I would never agree with people talking badly about you, I promise.”

Mare’s tears began to slow, both from Ani’s honest words and the gentle fingers petting his head, and his eyelids gradually began to droop even as he spoke. “... You promise…?”

“I promise.”

Mare gradually began to relax against Ani, taking her promise to heart and letting it ease away his fears. “My _mi amo_ … mine and Kyuaran’s… no one else’s….”

“That’s right, I’m no one else’s _mi amo_ , just yours and Kyuaran’s,” Ani agreed with a soft smile, watching as the shrunken prince began nodding off in her arms.

Mare let his eyes slowly close as he heard Ani quietly humming and felt her continuing to run her fingers through his hair, all of the tension in his body melting away as he sighed and snuggled against Ani with an unguarded smile.

Even as Ani tucked him back into bed, Mare slept peacefully through the rest of the night, his nightmares chased away by his princess’s lingering warmth and kind words.


End file.
